tom.mccooey@jpress.co.uk

SHAUN Wane’s Wigan Warriors are preparing for one of the biggest starts to a season in the club’s history.

Pre-season training has a sharper edge to it this season, as the Warriors squad compete with each other for the right to represent the club on a rare occasion.

Warriors and their coach Shaun Wane during a training session

After a highly anticipated Super League home opener against 2013 league leaders Huddersfield Giants on February 7, the DW Stadium outfit jet to the Southern hemisphere to take on New Zealand Warriors in Hamilton on Wednesday, February 12, in preparation for their tilt at the World Club Challenge.

Only once before has a British rugby league team won the trophy on Australian soil, when Graeme West coached the Riversiders to a 20-14 win over the Brisbane Broncos in June 1994.

Almost 20 years on, the Cherry and Whites have a chance to repeat the feat by beating NRL champions Sydney Roosters on February 22.

At the club’s training ground in Orrell, the players are seen being put through attacking drills by the club’s coaching staff as they work on combinations which they hope will prove the key to retaining the league and Challenge Cup double of 2013, as well as becoming World Champions for the first time in the Super League era.